Friday, 7 May 2010

Zero to hero

Today, I took my youngest (age 3) to the V and A Museum of Childhood's Wondertots. Its Superheroes session was full of great activities and all the children seemed to enjoy it. And yet it left me cold. I suspect my feelings towards it were influenced by my post-election state of mind. But while I came away feeling flat and uninspired; Daisy came away with a rather nice superhero cape (as photographed above).

After nursery, Daisy proudly showed Buddy her cape and persuaded him to play. It was then that the creative seeds sown in the Wondertots session began to germinate, as my two favourite superheroes swooped in, truly saving the day. First, Superboy and Supergirl sourced their power gadgets; toy cameras caught baddies and sucked them in until they'd learnt their lesson. And they used their torches to hunt out the baddies from under the chairs and sofa.

Daisy became Superflick - the girl who could fly to Mars (using her cape) and make flick books work. She became Superclimb Girl with a special rope (a scarf) attached to her dress to lift her up to the tops of mountains. Buddy remained the amazing Superboy, with incredible strength and the ability to fly using his (invisible) cape. They showed off their super-jumping, super-stealth and super-gadgets until dinner time.

After this we watched The Incredibles on DVD and during the credits Elastigirl (mummy), Dash (Buddy), and Violet (Daisy)showed off amazing super powers in expressive movement and dance.

So, maybe I was unmoved by the powers of the V and A today, maybe I did have the post-election blues, but happily I was completely saved by my children's creativity and enthusiasm. They helped me find the escapism I needed, cheering me up no end. I doubt they know it, but they really have performed some great superhero work here today.

About Me

Julia, a former school teacher and theatre-in-education performer, is a freelance museum educator and creator of Adventures at Home. Previously an education officer for the BBC and the London Transport Museum with a postgraduate degree in Museum Studies, Julia now teaches hundreds of school children at the British Museum and the Geffrye Museum. It is here that she also devises and leads sessions of stories and song, dance, play and craft for preschoolers. She lives in London with her husband and has two young children of her own.
Adventures at Home is about her family's creative life - they play, sing, dance, cook, build, make and bake whenever they can.
It's a place to exchange ideas, for anyone passionate about nurturing and celebrating play and creativity.